For its first content integration on the Roku platform, Toyota combined a thoughtful series tie-in with a diverse ad buy — with powerful results
Working with its multicultural agency Conill, Toyota sponsored the premiere of On the Edge with Juanpa, a Roku Original adventure series, in a fully bilingual campaign that drove an +8.1% lift in ad recall1 among exposed audiences.
Key takeaways:
- Toyota tapped Roku to reach an audience of adventure-loving bilingual consumers—of which 74% are not reachable on traditional TV.
- They ran six different ad formats across the Roku platform, all in English and Spanish.
- The sponsorship drove a +8.1% lift in ad recall among exposed audiences, proving the sponsorship broke through in a crowded category.
The challenge: an audience streaming past traditional TV
Spanish-speaking truck and SUV shoppers are one of the fastest-growing segments in the U.S. auto market. They are also increasingly cord-free, which means the media plans that used to find them no longer do.
The reach gap is stark. Of the audience Toyota reached through this sponsorship, 74% could not be found on traditional TV. 42% didn't watch Hulu, Peacock or Tubi at any point in the campaign window. These aren't hard-to-reach viewers. They're viewers who've moved, and most CTV plans haven't moved with them.
Conill identified the specific segment Toyota needed: the “Fearless Explorer” — bilingual consumers drawn to adventure, the outdoors and rugged vehicles.
Finding them was only half the problem.
The other half was what to say once Toyota got there. A 15-second spot with translated copy can deliver a message in Spanish. It cannot build a relationship with an audience that has often been overlooked or ignored. Toyota needed an environment, not just an impression.
The approach: one sponsorship, six ways in
Toyota’s sponsorship, which ran from October 2025 through February 2026, spanned six formats across the Roku experience. Every one of them ran in both English and Spanish. This approach allowed Toyota to meet viewers in each of the distinct modes a streamer moves through in a single night.
Powering on. A Marquee Ad — the Roku Home Screen’s premium video unit — greeted viewers the moment they turned on the TV, in the language they use.
Browsing. A Spotlight Ad — a Billboard and a tile on The Roku Channel — put Toyota front and center as viewers were deciding what to watch. This is the mode where attention is genuinely available, because nothing has started yet.
Pausing. The Pause Ad took over the entire screen — continuing the brand story during viewer-initiated breaks.
Watching. In-content brand video and a bilingual title card placed Toyota inside On the Edge with Juanpa itself, where an adventure series about testing physical limits carried a truck brand built on endurance.
That last placement is why this campaign stands out. Toyota did not run adjacent to adventure content. It sponsored a show about adventure, targeted to an audience defined by adventure, with creative built for both languages that audience routinely speaks. The contextual fit and the cultural fit worked together in lockstep.
The bilingual execution ran across every touchpoint, which meant Toyota reached this audience in its preferred language without commissioning separate campaign buys to do it.
The results
Brand impact. Toyota's sponsorship of On the Edge with Juanpa drove an 8.1% lift in ad recall among exposed Roku households between October 2025 and February 2026, according to a Roku brand lift study — the clearest signal that the creative broke through in a crowded category.
Sponsorship effectiveness. 98% of Toyota’s total campaign reach came exclusively from the sponsorship media, as opposed to related ad placements. The sponsorship was not a supporting layer on top of a larger plan; it was the plan.
Hard-to-find audiences. 74% of the households Toyota reached were unreachable on pay TV, and fragmented across streaming services. 42% of the audience did not watch Hulu, Peacock or Tubi during the campaign window — making Roku the only streaming touchpoint for nearly half of this audience. In its premiere week, On the Edge with Juanpa was the #1 title for reach on Roku Channel
What auto marketers can take from this
Cultural relevance is a strategy, not a translation step. Running Spanish-language creative is table stakes. Sponsoring content built for the audience, in an environment that reflects how they spend their time, is a different investment with different returns. Toyota trucks were featured directly in the show, making the sponsorship native to the viewer experience.
Contextual fit compounds. On the Edge with Juanpa did not just deliver the right demographic. The show’s premise matched the psychographic Conill was targeting, which means every placement inside it carried more than a demo match.
Format diversity combats frequency fatigue. Six formats across the Roku experience are not six chances at the same impression. By showing up appropriately in each mode a viewer moves through — arriving, browsing, pausing, watching — Toyota earns that attention.
Content partnerships are measurable now. Brand lift studies, exclusive reach data and audience overlap analysis mean sponsorship no longer sits in the unmeasurable column of a media plan. Toyota’s team can show what the sponsorship did, not just where it ran.
“When the fit is authentic from the beginning, the connection is stronger, the engagement is deeper, and the impact is more enduring.”
Toyota’s sponsorship of On the Edge with Juanpa was the first auto content integration on the Roku platform, offering a template for how brands can develop close content partnerships that reach multicultural audiences on CTV.
Explore how a Roku Originals sponsorship can put your brand inside content your audience already loves — connect with the Roku Advertising team.
